HOUSTON: Leading European energy firms requested on Friday that US authorities deny Venture Global LNG’s request to extend the construction permit for its export facility in Louisiana by a year.
Opposing the proposal are Shell, Italian utility Edison, Repsol, Orlen, and Galp Energia, who feel that Venture Global LNG has built its plant but has not provided them with contracted cargoes.
In order to finish its Calcasieu Pass plant, Venture Global requested last month a one-year extension to its FERC permission, or it sought confirmation that it did not require one.
In its conditional form, Shell LNG requested that the Commission declare the request for an extension to be pointless and swiftly refuse it.
In order to support the request for an extension, Edison urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order Venture Global to provide commissioning papers.
Repsol and Galp informed federal regulators that due to their inability to get commissioning documents, they are unable to fully engage in the 15-day intervention period.
The European companies claim that although they signed long-term contracts with Venture Global LNG, they have not received their gas shipments. For over a year, Venture Global LNG has been selling gas from the plant to third parties, resulting in billions of dollars’ worth of lost profits.
The regulatory commission was asked by Venture Global LNG on Friday to “reject the myriad claims of BP, Shell, and Orlen.”
